Fox’s ‘X-Factor’ tops Thursday

Season finale suffers drop from a year ago

Against very little original competition, Fox’s “The X-Factor” was the dominant show Thursday night, but the season finale took a huge drop from a year ago

The two-hour episode drew a 3.1 rating/9 share, with 9.6 million viewers overall, according to early estimates from Nielsen. That represented an 18% decline from last year when the show drew a 3.8/11 and 12.6 million.

Among singing competition shows, NBC’s “The Voice” ended its season earlier this week on a high note with a 4.9/13 and 14.6 million.

“The X-Factor” won all half-hours in the 18-49 demo except at 8 p.m., when it was defeated by a repeat of “The Big Bang Theory” (2.8 vs. 2.7). The CBS sitcom drew 10.9 million viewers, making it the most-watched show of the night. In the 18-34 demo, Fox was best from 8-10 p.m.

Following “The Big Bang Theory,” CBS continued its run of repeats. “Two and a Half Men” (2.3/7, 8.7m), “Person of Interest” (1.7/5, 9.3m) and “Elementary” (1.3/4, 6.7m) rounded out the night.

ABC opted for a pair of specials: “I Want a Dog for Christmas” (1.4/4, 5.1m) and the two-hour “CMA Country Christmas” (1.5/4, 7.2m), which won the 10 o’clock hour.

NBC was in the holiday spirit as well with “A White House Christmas: First Families Remember” at 8 o’clock. Special drew a 1.6/5, 8.4 million, which was better than what the Peacock usually draws on Thursday in the hour.

That was followed by low-rated repeats of “The Office” (1.0/3, 3.1m) and “Parks and Recreation” (0.8/2, 2m). Newsmagazine “Rock Center With Brian Williams” (0.8/2, 3.4m) ended the night, defeated by both CBS and ABC.